Creative X-Fi "Music Creation" Mod

Module Surgery

With the basic case almost completed, it is time to move on to the glitzy stuff, what you kids call 'bling' these days.


The first item to undergo surgery is the I/O module for the soundcard. This quite an impressively sized and surprisingly solidly made beast. Its front fascia is plastic but the actual casing is made from reasonably thick-gauge steel. I plan to add internal lighting to this and using it as the amplifier control panel but first, I need to make it fit the amplifier case.



The unit was slightly wider than the amplifier case opening so I measured it carefully, then introduced it to one of my precision modding tools: a hacksaw.



After removing the corners to make the I/O unit fit into the case I started the process of stripping down the chassis to add the internal lighting.



The housings for the controls were solid plastic and needed to be cut away for the back lighting to shine through. I fitted my trusty rotary tool with its flexible shaft and a suitable cutting bit and cut away the unnecessary bits of plastic. I removed as much plastic as I could to allow maximum backlighting whilst leaving enough for the control spindles to bolt on to - a delicate job indeed.



Using a circle cutter, plastic filters were cut from a sheet of thin blue acetate bought from a local art shop. The front panel was re-fitted to the chassis then centre holes were cut into the acetate filters to allow them to slip over the protruding control spindles. Care was taken to obtain an exact fit of the filters inside each recess to avoid any light leakage.


Lights and glue…..